Shortly after becoming a mother, my newborn daughter was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. I reacted in a way that I'm sure many mothers would: I embraced her as if my hug would heal her, I felt guilt and wondered if somehow I had caused this to happen to her, and initially, I was afraid for how this could affect her. 

If you would've told me then that almost four years later I would be at complete peace in a waiting room, while she lay under anesthesia in a cath lab while her heart was repaired, I wouldn't have believed you. 

But that's how the story went.